Tim S. Joey H.Grassland Conservation Page


Human Impact on Grasslands:

Humans have impacted Grasslands in many diffrent ways. First off, a negetive effect is how humans have, and still do, burn them away for farming land. This causes the native plants to go away, and it is unlikely that they grow back, due to the crops. This also causes the entire ecosystem to be changed, the bringing in of foreign plants is bad for the animals in that area, because of the
differences between the plants. Once a grassland has been burned, it is unlikely that it will grow back, due to the soil being nutrient-free. Plus, the smoke from the flames hurts all biomes, because of the Carbon Dioxide emitted. Laws are being passed, but the grasslands are being burned too fast for that to to much.

grassland_bison.jpg
American Bison
However, people have been doing lots of things to help the grassland. One example is the bison of the U.S. praries. Bison have been hunted in the past for their meat, hide, and fur. The hunting of bison mainly happened during America's expansion out west. This is a problem for the ecosystem because of how the bison effect it. Without the bison, most of its predetors, (Wolf, moutain lion) are out of a food source. Luckily, many people of the U.S. have created programs, such as the American Bison Socioty, to help regain the population of bison back to its original number. What the American Bison Socioty's goal is, is to bring back the importance of bison in North American wildlife. So far, people have helped bring back about 2% of North America's bison population on average.




One of the problems of the grassland, is the grazing of mass numbers of animals, such as horses, cows, and sheep.
When These animals are grazed, they destoy species of plants, sometimes even endangered ones. Changing grassland practices, such as breeding less animals, or not depleting so many plants in one area, might be the solution to this issue.

The second conservation problem in the grassland is poaching.The Asian rhino population is steadily depleteing , mainly because of poaching, and habitat loss. Experts have several different methods, to help the increase of rhino population. Some of the methods for solving the issue are: monitoring flooding, streangthening anti-poaching measures, and moving rhinos to a healthier location. To save the rhino population, immediate intensive actions are needed. Also, the government will need to help fund anti-poaching.



BiomesSixth10

Grassland Facts
Grassland Fiction
Grassland Home
Grassland Bibliography

Grassland Food Web